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Freedom · 05-30-2015, 04:35 PM

I've never been in a situation where I have addressed any concerns with LC brothers/elders, however, I can say there have been plenty of times where I have wanted to confront them.

I think that somehow I already knew that bringing up concerns would go nowhere. That's not to say that I always new better, I was really just as naïve as Steve says he was when he first went to the brothers. At one point in time, I really thought that the LC provided an atmosphere of fellowship. Over time I realized that LC "fellowship" was always one-sided.

I think I had this realization through seeing how LC leaders handled themselves publicly. For example, I attended numerous fellowship/coordination meetings. In the vast majority of these meetings, we would read a ministry excerpt and then near the end of the meeting the brother in charge would tell use how things were going to happen. There was no fellowship whatsoever, nor was there the opportunity for anyone to interject. I eventually had to accept the fact that whatever LC leaders wanted was the way it was going to be. By this, I think I realized that addressing concerns that didn't serve the agendas of LC leaders would be fruitless.

When I began to have more serious concerns, I thought about talking to the brothers, and even a few times I just wanted to tell them off. I could have easily done that, but I realized that instead of addressing my concerns with the brothers and risk having them marginalize what I had to say, why not post publicly on the internet where those who truly had interest in what I had to say could engage in discussion. Looking back, I realize it was the only viable route to take.

If LC leaders don't like what is said on the internet, why haven't they taken the opportunity to address those concerns? What I think is that they have done a risk assessment and decided that the defectors that will go to the internet are few and far between, therefore it is not a problem worthy of devoting too much time to. If they throw out labels like "lawless users of the internet" it scares enough LCers to keep in line.

05-30-2015, 04:35 PM	#2
Freedom Member Join Date: Mar 2014 Posts: 1,636	Re: Handling Matters In House I've never been in a situation where I have addressed any concerns with LC brothers/elders, however, I can say there have been plenty of times where I have wanted to confront them. I think that somehow I already knew that bringing up concerns would go nowhere. That's not to say that I always new better, I was really just as naïve as Steve says he was when he first went to the brothers. At one point in time, I really thought that the LC provided an atmosphere of fellowship. Over time I realized that LC "fellowship" was always one-sided. I think I had this realization through seeing how LC leaders handled themselves publicly. For example, I attended numerous fellowship/coordination meetings. In the vast majority of these meetings, we would read a ministry excerpt and then near the end of the meeting the brother in charge would tell use how things were going to happen. There was no fellowship whatsoever, nor was there the opportunity for anyone to interject. I eventually had to accept the fact that whatever LC leaders wanted was the way it was going to be. By this, I think I realized that addressing concerns that didn't serve the agendas of LC leaders would be fruitless. When I began to have more serious concerns, I thought about talking to the brothers, and even a few times I just wanted to tell them off. I could have easily done that, but I realized that instead of addressing my concerns with the brothers and risk having them marginalize what I had to say, why not post publicly on the internet where those who truly had interest in what I had to say could engage in discussion. Looking back, I realize it was the only viable route to take. If LC leaders don't like what is said on the internet, why haven't they taken the opportunity to address those concerns? What I think is that they have done a risk assessment and decided that the defectors that will go to the internet are few and far between, therefore it is not a problem worthy of devoting too much time to. If they throw out labels like "lawless users of the internet" it scares enough LCers to keep in line.